If you are reading this and haven't downloaded the Starscape demo yet then shame on you Go and get it NOW!! Imagine something as instantly familiar and fun as asteroids, but then turbo charged into the modern day with crazy features like ship customisation, a giant space station portable base following you around, research, mining, construction and an anime styled story filled with robots and scary aliens. Come on people, what more do you want?

Go and Download the Mr Robot demo too! I guess most people here already have, but if you haven't, and are looking for an action packed adventure to occupy your time, look no further
Ok, sorry, enough blatant self promotion.

Whilst PomPom's second game mutant storm definitely has a hardcore appeal that we like, we've found ourselves coming back to their first offering more and more. At it's core a tribute to Williams arcade classic Defender, it'll leave you wondering why they don't make games like this anymore.

A great control system (move with the cursor keys, and aim with the mouse) , and gorgeous graphics made this our favourite Robotron-A-like. Alien Shooter likes to take gore to the max.
We were sold on it once we picked up the minigun and started to mow down hordes of aliens; literally, painting the rooms red with alien blood

Whilst it won't come anywhere close to being one of the top shoot-em-ups of all time, this is still solid. We found especially that the graphical style kept us wanting to see more (the entire game - even the effects, are made using claymation techniques. The whole game is built from photographs of plasticine models!).

Special Notice: Whilst we do love Platypus, we can't in good conscience recommend that you buy it. Due to some pretty shady shenanigans on the part of the publisher, none of the money you spend on this product will end up in the hands of it's creator Anthony Flack, even worse, the current rights holders seem to be on a campaign to eradicate the creator's name from any websites and replace it with their own. That kind of goes against our ethos here at Moonpod. If you are thinking of buying this game, we suggest instead that you save your money and sign up to the mailing list at Squashy Software - Anthony's next game, Cletus Clay ,looks so fantabulous I'll eat my hat if it's not on this must buy list when it comes out!

Outpost Kaloki takes a well established genre and makes a very well polished pretty implementation that manages to avoid being too cliche by injecting just the right amount of humour. Each mission sees you create your very own space station purpose built to fulfil the story linked mission objectives. You can add modules for entertainment, research, food production, defence and many more.

In uplink you play a hacker and the whole game revolves around a futuristic looking text only computer interface that you use to hack into computers on the net. Some computers just require a code breaker to get in and then you have to delete a file or copy some data. Later on things get a lot harder, you will need to scan their security and use a variety of software tools to get past it. The core mechanic is extremely simple (perhaps too simple). When you hack someone you first connect through as many other computers as you can, once you hack in they begin to trace you back and you have a limited amount of time to complete your mission. SO you end up running various programs, juggling available CPU power, sorting through data all against the clock, repeat, repeat, repeat. It certainly has an addictive quality. What saved it for me was the ability to customize your imaginary PC with a variety of software and hardware upgrades and the story wound into the game about evil corporations, super viruses and murdered hackers.

Darwinia
by IntroversionAgain a very clever game from Introversion that just like Uplink doesn't need an army of artists to create due to some shrewd design decisions. Still, it looks very nice, definitely reminds me of Tron. Take an RTS concept, a big 3D map with units fighting for territory so that resources can be gathered to build more units. All pretty normal so far. Now for the twist, a squad of infantry don't really do much on their own, the player must take direct control with the mouse guiding them and also firing their lasers and bombs. So now its a shootemup, a pretty cool twist. The downside for me was there didn't seem to be much more to it, I took my squad and cruised around the map hammering at the mouse button and laying waste. When the squad died I made another. Repeat. Still, a top indie title that has cleverly managed to get a lot of attention, it's even available in the shops (UK at least) and has been getting decent coverage in mainstream magazines (i've fainted - eek!).

Gish is a stylish looking platform game where the main protagonist is a ball of tar! He handles pretty realistically using a funky physics simulation that has you oozing and squidging around the levels.

An army is coming and you have a few short minutes to explore your surroundings, secure allies, resources and build up your defences. Oasis feels a little like Civilisation but streamlined into something much simpler and faster. Strategic thinking in bite size chunks.

If you want a good old fashioned home grown vertical scrolling PC shootemup then there aren't many options and demonstar is definitely king. There are three games in the series, Demonstar, Demonstar: secret missions 1 and Demonstar: secret missions 2. The first game is excellent but the graphics aren't great, the other two games play just as well but have some beautifully drawn artwork. Start with Secret Missions 1 and if you like it get more of the same and an identical art style in SM2. Then if you are hooked as much as I was just go and get the orginal Demonstar too anyway!

Before the geometry wars hype there was mutant storm. It's like robotron through a turbo charger. Cursor keys control your character and the mouse lets you shoot anywhere. It's very fast and you need quick reflexes.

A stylish, simple strategy game that feels a lot like risk with a few more units thrown into the mix and no reinforcements. Anyone remember the film Wargames? Single player is really just a tutorial so you don't totally embarress yourself when you go online If you dare take on the Internet uber players (or you just don't mind getting your *** handed to you) then get online and destroy the world.

Remember Diablo and Rogue, ah what fond memories. Fate is a fairly brazen clone, but it is hard to criticise when done this well. Strap on your armour and grab your dog, those procedurally generated dungeons aren't going to cleanse themselves. Hack and slash tastic.

If you thought Elite was good, then this is better. What! How dare he!! Ok it's starting to look a bit old now as it approaches its 5th birthday, but stick with it. It's a top down 2D space game with a very similar universe to Elite i.e. you build up your ship, you trade, you fight off pirates, you become a pirate, etc. Unlike Elite it has some well written and weighty storylines that are the real meat of the game. There are six built in and they kick off, one at a time, randomly. Each one takes a good few hours to work through and when you're done with them the fans have made a ton more. Yes, i'm sorry, you will need to read the manual.

Hang on a minute, isn't this just souped up space invaders, what are you trying to pull!! No listen, give it a go, it looks cool and and is a really great game. Simple can still be fun, 2D can still look cool and familiar gameplay can still feel fresh. You'll be happily blasting the alien horde in no time.

Fancy exploring a new galaxy every lunch time? Wierd worlds lets you do just that by procedurally generating a mini galaxy for you. There is a time limit and you need to get amongst the stars, explore, trade and fight before the mission is over. Very simple, very addictive and it looks great. This is a complete makeover for the old Strange Adventures In Infinite Space, same game, just looks ten times nicer so go get it.

A multiplayer strategy war game that's a bit like a real time strategy game crossed with pin ball on acid! There's a ton of game here to learn and not too many people online, but that's where you can make a difference. Get the demo, check out the tutorials (please) then get online for possibly the best indie multiplayer game ever. It won gametunnels multiplayer game of the year and yours truly reviewed it. Warning - you will need Steam to try the demo or buy it.

Imagine 'The Sims', but with wild animals. Initially very laid back, tweak the population, tidy up the snow, watch all the animals live and die. Later on the goals for specific populations kick in and balancing so many species in such a small place gets really hectic. Dread to think you might even learn something! It was in gametunnel's top 10 games of the year and yours truly reviewed it.

Imagine asteroids, but transplanted onto the 3D surface of a planetoid. Now add insane numbers of explosions, laser blasts and enemies. Absolutely sweet shmup goodness. It was in gametunnel's top 10 games of the year and yours truly reviewed it.

Last edited by Fost on Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:35 pm; edited 7 times in total

I was a bit disapointed really, it had been hyped up an enormous amount for an indie game so I suppose I was expecting too much. Don't get me wrong though, it is a very good indie title.

Single player seems like a tutorial so you can get to grips before going online. I can't say there is much replay value in single player. Online it seems a pretty straightforward formulaic strategy:

1. deploy all units before the timer runs out, failing to get everything deployed means you may as well quit straight away. Get busy clicking.

2. work out where the enemy is and arrange your radar and defences along the appropriate nearest coast line.

3. send your subs sneaking round the back so you can whip out a last minute nuke attack where he is least expecting it.

4. Put all your ships into one giant unstoppable juganaut fleet and send it steaming to his nearest coast. Yes, he will spot it, but it should be big enough to take anything he throws at it, unless he does the same thing. As long as you keep it moving he wont hit it with nukes.

5. Use your planes to try and pick out likely targets, eaither your air bases have enough range or you'll have to wait for the carriers to get close.

6. If all your nukes are going in one side then try to clear out his air defence silos with your initial 30% of nukes, this will increase the likelyhood of your remaining nukes getting through. Be careful to check your nuke targets have a nice population to maximise the score. Similarly, if you can get your super fleet in close then use the bombers to take out defences. If the timing is right you should open a door for your main nuke attack.

7. If the opponent isn't stupid then things will probably be about equal. It now comes down to whether anyone spotted the subs or not. If you have more subs then you can attack at the last minute and hopefully swing the match.

However, saying that, I did get my *** handed to me every time I played as I do with all multiplayer games. A few times I thought I had the upper hand but then the opposing player would just quit, so I don't know. If anyone else has any strategy thoughts please post away, it feels like there isn't any other strategy i'm missing, i'm just not clicking as fast as the other guy? It brings back memories of warcraft i.e. always losing Smile

It looks like the game plays quite differently if there are more than 2 players, maybe i'm missing out, i've only takenpart in 2 player games. A lot of people are saying it is like Risk, which is interesting, I can see what they mean.

The game is quite slow paced and once things begin to play out it becomes fairly obvious how a game is going to go (probably). So every time I look like I might be in with a chance of winning, which is admittedly not often, the other player just quits - damn!

Well, give me a sec - i'm actually going to create a list with quite a few games on eventually.

The game that has disappeared is Reiner Knizia's Samurai and the really sad thing is, the developer appears to have had a short term license from the people who own the rights (some board game corporation or someone) and they've expired so they cannot sell the game any more. What a disaster!

A lot of people say that, but I always found the pace a little on the slow side. Don't get me wrong, Crimsonland is a great game, but I like things to err on the ultra explosive action side of things. I think that's why I never got into ultra-assault; on the face of it, a game I should have loved, but it slows the pace right down, and gives you a slow firing gun, and enemies that need multiple hits. Play something like Dodonpachi/Donpachi, where you get a stream of twenty tanks and can wipe them all out in 3 seconds and you'll see what I mean.

I like Gish and bought it, but it just doesn't quite make my personal list for reasons we mentioned on the board when it was discussed. you are right though, it's in the top indie games, and should be in the list above.

I felt like something was lacking in Alien Shooter... It felt like Phobia 3 only you could aim much easier.

If my memory is correct, you simply did the same stuff every mission. Sure, this gun had explosive shots, and this one shot faster, but there really wasn't anything different about them.

Crimsonland, you could play it differently every game, even on survival. Because you were forced to. You could get lucky and get a really good gun that goes great with your skill set (Or build your skill set based on the weapon), or you could get a terrible weapon, and be forced to work with that for atleast awhile.
In Alien Shooter there was very little development. There were upgrades, but they didn't actually do much. The fact that very little had to do with luck, and more about tunneling through the enemies, somehow made it seem boring to me.
The only reason I bought it was because I didn't get to see much of the game because the demo was way too short.

And on the topic of sucky demos, did you guys try Mexican Motor Mafia? I got tired of the game after I beat 2 of the 5 or so bosses in the freakin' demo.

If my memory is correct, you simply did the same stuff every mission. Sure, this gun had explosive shots, and this one shot faster, but there really wasn't anything different about them.

That's a valid criticism of Alien Shooter, but I don't see how Crimsonland Addresses these issues (Perhaps I am remembering it differenetly). Crimsonland just seemed to be a much slower, worse looking version of Alien Shooter without a scrolling landscape or interiors.

Inane wrote:

And on the topic of sucky demos, did you guys try Mexican Motor Mafia? I got tired of the game after I beat 2 of the 5 or so bosses in the freakin' demo.

I keep meaning to play that, as I thought it could have been one of the good ones, .

Heheh. I've already spent my money on quite a few of those. I do feel that the second Bone game was a strong contender. Graphics are polished and pleasurable, voice acting is top notch, and it's much longer than the first.

Other than that and some of the ones you've mentioned, I can't say I'm that well versed in indie games. I don't buy that many games in general, but when I do buy them, it tends to be either Blizzard or indie games. And a few Ubisoft games.